For years it was a competition that was thought about afterwards.
A cup that no one really cared about.
An opportunity to give the reserves an autumn run-off.
And the leading candidate to be the first on the chopping board if something had to make way on the increasingly busy agenda.
But this week, for all four clubs and managers involved in the Carabao Cup semi-finals, it's not just important – it's vital.
The opportunity to exorcise a 50-year-old ghost, prove that promising words have merit and substance, set a marker or demonstrate the challenge for greater prizes is real.
It also means that none of Eddie Howe, Ange Postecoglou, Arne Slot or Mikel Arteta will think about taking anything lightly or resting their best players for future encounters. This is far too important for that.
Especially for Howe and Postecoglou, the pressure from outside their internal environment is enormous.
The Toon boss doesn't need to be told that EVERY Newcastle fan is hungry for silverware, especially since the majority of them weren't even alive the last time the club won a trophy.
Even that trophy – the 1969 Inter City Fairs Cup, won by a 6-2 aggregate final victory over Hungarians Ujpest Dozsa – is no longer seen as a “real” trophy by UEFA, with the European governing body only recognizing his successor. competition, the UEFA Cup.
Since then, the Toon Army have traveled to Wembley five times in the desperate hope of making history.
And on all five occasions, the last in 2023 when Newcastle lost by giving Erik ten Hag his Manchester United false dawn, they have returned to the North East defeated and dishevelled.
Howe knows better than anyone what a trophy would mean, not only for the club, but also for himself.
An underpinning and underlining of the progress he has made despite financial fair play restrictions that prevented him from fully benefiting from the Saudi ownership of the club.
If he were to take the trophy home, having beaten Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs or Liverpool along the way, it would make a huge difference to his authority and make him a true local hero.
But it is almost as important for Arteta, whose side host Newcastle in the first leg on Tuesday.
Yes, the Spaniard won silverware at the end of his first half of the season with the Emirates.
But the 2020 FA Cup final victory over Chelsea came in front of 90,000 empty seats, three months after the match should have been played and while the world is still reeling from the pandemic.
Arteta and Arsenal have come close since then, but have yet to deliver anything.
Putting a 'real' one on the board in March would not only be a statement of intent, but also a message to Liverpool in particular, ahead of the final Prem season.
The first is always the hardest. Landing the Carabao would be proof, if anyone in his dressing room needed it, that Arteta and the 'process' are worth trusting.
The Gunners have failed to win the League Cup since their 2-1 Wembley win over Sheffield Wednesday in 1993.
A mile and a half away on Seven Sisters Road, Postecoglou was the author of his own book on mounting pressure.
His early-season boast that he “always wins a trophy in his second season” may have had to do with taking the heat off his players, but it now seems like an albatross around their necks.
Yes, Spurs have suffered terribly from injuries, with only Pedro Porro of their first (possibly second) choice at the back available to face Liverpool who met them six times before Christmas.
But many Tottenham fans point the finger at Postecoglou's playing style because he exposes his players to so many muscle problems, as happened at Celtic.
To some who ruefully remember three decades, Postecoglou is now “Aussie Ardiles” – determined to go all in even when he has a pair of threes in his best poker hand.
And with the anger and frustration at chairman Daniel Levy being sung at every game, home and away, and Spurs four points closer to the drop zone than a place in the Champions League, Postecoglou is exposed and vulnerable.
There are no such problems for Slot, who has turned Jurgen Klopp's legacy into a blessing rather than a curse.
Yet even the Dutchman will regard a first trophy in English football as an important milestone.
Klopp had to wait until his fourth season to find success. Finally, Liverpool could deliver another FOUR-FOLD within twelve months of his takeover.
It would be a milestone to land the first one as quickly as possible. Slot is all too aware of the message it would send.
This year, this week, more than any other, it's definitely not the Mickey Mouse Cup. Just ask the four managers.
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